Be careful if you share a sip of today’s Golden Sour #7 with Raspberry — anyone who gets a taste is going to want seconds! Then thirds, and fourths, until the bottle is empty.

And once this tart nectar is gone, there will never be any more.

Soquel is one of the smallest breweries we work with. And they only brew between November and March. The rest of the year, the forested mountains above Santa Cruz, California are too warm to create spontaneously fermented Wild Ales, and that’s the only thing these guys make. 

This year, they’ll produce less than 200 barrels total. And we have the only stash of today’s brew traveling beyond San Francisco.

Show up at a bottle share with a brew from Soquel Fermentation Project, and even your craftiest buddies probably won’t know the name. 

So, you get to explain that they’re fresh off a first-place win at this year’s California Craft Brewers Cup — where they beat out The Lost Abbey AND Alesmith! After they hear that, everyone will want a taste.  

The Wild Ale aficionados at Soquel made just a single, 10 BBL batch of Golden Sour #7, and they used a massive 1000 lbs of local raspberries to do it! First, they fermented with local wild yeast and microflora, then they aged the brew for a full year in French Oak barrels. Finally, they rested the Ale on whole fruit for an additional 2 months!

Pour this ruby red-hued brew into a glass, and you’ll immediately see what’s got everyone in Santa Cruz all abuzz. Aromas of fresh berries come bubbling up from the glass, along with a lemon-zest like tartness. On the palate, it’s all raspberry and pucker, with hints of oak and a touch of bretty funk. The beer finishes slightly sweet with a lingering wild complexity.

This bottle is virtually guaranteed to impress every Wild Ale fan and Sour fiend you know! But if you want a taste, act fast — we have fewer than 250 bottles of Golden Sour #7, and they won’t be sticking around long!

Rated 4.25 on Untappd by the lucky few who have tried it!